Opening page…
How do you know the future will be like the past?
Bertrand Russell's chicken is fed every morning of its life, and grows surer each day that the farmer means well. Then one morning the farmer wrings its neck.
Your answer
A little context
You set an alarm tonight because the sun will rise tomorrow. You sit down without testing the chair because chairs have always held. Nearly everything you do rests on a bet that the future will behave like the past, and you have probably never checked the bet itself.
Nearby questions
- How do you look for something when you don't know what it is?Searching seems to require knowing what to look for, yet discovery means finding what you did not know.
- If no one can tell the difference, does it matter whether you really understand?When sounding knowledgeable becomes easy, understanding must find another way to matter.
- Should you trust experts?Most of what you know rests on someone else's word: a doctor, a textbook, a map, and now a machine that answers anything.
- How do you know any of this is real?Descartes noticed that his dreams could feel as real as his days. Now some people wonder whether the whole world is a simulation.
- What makes a good question?A question can invite discovery, demand a performance, or quietly decide its own answer.
